Rainwater accumulating on outdoor sports field playing surfaces presents many problems. Among them are the risk of injury to the athlete, long term and short term damage to playing surfaces, and delay or postponement of scheduled sporting events. Accumulated rainwater on outdoor sports field playing surfaces increases the cost associated with the maintenance and use of outdoor athletic fields and the risk expense associated with scheduling sporting events at outdoor venues at all levels of sport including the grade school, high school, college, and professional level.
Baseball fields and parks are particularly susceptible to unpredictable weather especially rainfall. The principal methods employed for control of accumulated rainfall on baseball fields includes covering the field surfaces with rain tarps. Such tarps must be used either prior to or at the early stages of rainfall to prevent excess collection of rainwater. Other techniques include applying sand or other dry soil materials to playing field surfaces where rainwater has collected or applying clay or soil clay mixtures to absorb and control the rainwater accumulation.
The use of tarps to cover field surfaces presents many problems due to the time involved in properly applying a tarp or tarps over the playing surface, the requirement of anticipating the time and duration of a rainfall, the potential for injury to workers when the tarps are applied and then removed. Similarly, applying dry soil or adsorbent clay materials in an effort to dry or absorb rainwater on playing surfaces presents additional problems. The addition of soil or clay materials is only partially effective in controlling the rainwater and the use of such additional soil or clay can materially alter the playing surface. Such playing surface alternations can hinder the way in which a game is played, pose risks to the athletes because of altered or uneven playing surfaces, and can result in costly remediation expenses after a game is completed. Consequently, a need exist for improvements in handling accumulated rainwater on outdoor playing field surfaces.